Widespread Lowland Snow Incoming!!

 Well it is going to be an interesting 48 hours coming up. We will have snow, ice, sleet, rain, wind, basically everything on the weather bingo card in the next 2 days. 

A strong and moist Pacific system will move into the area tomorrow evening, spreading precipitation into a very cold and dry air mass. A ripe set up for a snowstorm in the PNW. 

Current satellite imagery shows moisture moving into Oregon. 

This moisture will spread north and with the cold temperatures in place, it will bring wintry weather to the lowlands of Oregon and Washington.

Winter and ice storm warnings are out for Portland and the Willamete valley. This storm will work effectively to scour out cold air in the upper levels so I expect precipitation type to quickly transition to freezing rain and sleet south of Salem. However, upper levels should stay just cold enough for precipitation to remain snow north of Wilsonville. 

The low will pull east winds out of the gorge, keeping things very cold at the surface in Portland, temps will struggle to make it past the freezing mark tomorrow and with snow/ice falling the whole day, I expect a very nasty evening commute. Please plan ahead and do not drive if it is not necessary. 

I expect 1-2 inches of snow south of Salem and up to .5 inches of freezing rain. Further north, Portland will see 2-6 inches of snow, with some freezing rain mixed in later.

Then, later on in the afternoon the snow spreads north into Washington state. By 3 PM, it should start snowing in Olympia and Tacoma. 

SW Washington looks to be the hardest hit with 3-6 inches of snow. The snow makes it up to the Puget Sound by 8 PM, so not expecting too many impacts for the evening commute. However Friday morning may be a different story as it may snow through the night in the Puget Sound, with some deformation band action in the morning. Normally this would be a major snowstorm for Western Washington, with temperatures at or below freezing for most of the area, but the snow will be fighting very dry air. I expect the least amounts north of Snohomish county and in some of the East Puget Sound Lowlands where strong east winds will work against the snow. The Tacoma area should see the most snow with up to 4 inches south of the King County line. In the central Sound, I expect 1-4 inches of snow with better amounts for areas sheltered from the east wind.

The first band of snow tomorrow night will be fairly light, but then models show a deformation band forming early Friday, this could bring more snow to the Puget Sound as the dry air should be scoured out by then. I expect impacts to the morning commute in the area on Friday morning.

Precipitation will move out later on Friday and temperatures will begin to warm.

I suspect this may be the last snow we see in a while so enjoy it!!

Stay safe and have a good night!!